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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Allow me to share my messy attempt to show the family some
love this morning. (Note that I used the word “attempt,” as the results
certainly were mixed.)

Let me take a step back and lay the foundation. Valentines
Day is not the biggest deal to me personally. I am lucky to have a wonderful
hubby, so it’s not that I feel left out on this day of love. I’m not saying Valentines
Day is pointless or wrong or anything bad. But it’s just not a huge deal to me.
I think we should always be sweet and
kissy with the people we love, not because our calendar says it’s February 14. We’ve
always celebrated Valentines Day in some way or another. Even on the Valentines
Day when I was very sick in bed I think I managed to stumble to the kitchen and
present Hubby with something I’d painted for him, before staggering back to
bed. Most of the time we’ve celebrated our own way, something casual. Sometimes
we make cards for each other. We get take-out food and have a family park
picnic. We love simple stuff.

Here’s why Valentines Day is on my radar this year more than
some other years:my kids are into it.
They bring cards for their classmates and have a cookie party with their class.
It’s cute! To kids this age, today is about exchanging Star Wars or Dora the
Explorer valentines. There’s candy and festivity involved. It’s a win-win
situation! They’re oblivious to the ads on tv, goading watchers to rush to
their local mall and buy something (NOW!) to show their special someone how
much they are loved. For young kids, this day is simple, and it’s pure. I dig
that.

Anyway, I knew I wanted to do something for the
family since the kids knew what today was. Last night I stirred water and red
food coloring into pancake mix and threw it into the fridge. This morning, in
an undeniable gesture of my love for the family, I hit my snooze button a mere
three times (instead of the usual four or five), as I knew I’d need an extra
fifteen minutes to make Valentine pancakes. My first few attempts were not
wildly successful. One heart pancake broke as I flipped it, which seems
unfortunate on a day when hearts should be happy.

But hubby said it would still taste good (isn’t he a gem?!).
Also, I’d forgotten that batter really changes color when it cooks, and my pale
pink batter yielded blotchy pinky-brown pancakes that resembled my skin after a
slight sunburn. No good. If I’m going to make pink pancakes, I want them to
really look pink! I added more red food coloring and tried again. (All the while
calling to the kids to wake up and get dressed. After several reminders, my
voice wasn’t as sweet and Valentiney as I’d like. Getting the kids up is no
easy feat. I’m a pancake artist, after all—not a magician!) My subsequent efforts
at pink pancakes showed some improvement but I can’t say Cupid’s arrow hit its
target right away. There were the pancakes that weren’t pink enough. Or broken.
Or changed shape while they cooked. Kind of a band of misfits, but hey, they
did taste good and the effort was there. Eventually I figured out the right
color and size and got a few that looked on the plate like they looked in my
head. I was happy that the family knew they were loved, and that (somehow)
everyone got out the door on time for school.

It seems that (once again) I have learned the hard way that doing a multi-step breakfast on a school day will not eliminate morning stress simply because it’s Valentines Day. But doing fun stuff (even when it makes me crazier during the process) is just part of who I am. Making food in unexpected colors and shapes is just so entertaining. There are many ways to show people some love. I think some of the best ways are free and simple. A hug or a flower from your yard. And as for carving a six-foot ice sculpture in my hubby’s likeness, there’s always next year…

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Yesterday morning we saw one. A rainbow! If I were living in Hawaii this would hardly be newsworthy but it's unusual where I live. In Southern California (a desert with mere drops of rain per year), seeing a rainbow is as rare as spotting a leprechaun (on the back of a unicorn, who is speaking French with a dinosaur, while Halley's Comet zooms by). What a treat! Clearly, this was blog-worthy. I saw it as a rainbow lining to the fact that I'd forgotten my barely-used umbrella yesterday morning, one of the few rainy days of our year. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to look for four-leaf clovers...